Monday, 31 March 2014

Vice-captain Mikel Arteta has paid tribute to Gooners inside the stadium on Saturday who supported the team through its 97 minute battle with Manchester City.

Even though the visitors went a goal up inside 18 minutes, the Arsenal faithful carried on supporting their team.

There were huge celebrations when Mathieu Flamini turned in Lucas Podolski's cross eight minutes into the second half and the crowd carried on with their vocal backing of the team until the final whistle.

"To play here as a visitor, it is really difficult when everyone is behind Arsenal, it makes it really hard.

"I know they [the fans] were disappointed with the results, but we have a real chance now to finish the season strongly.

"Mentally someone had to put it right, and only we [the players] could do that. We have got the crowd back with us now and hopefully we can finish the season strong because there is still a lot to play for."

This season appears to have been the biggest turning point in vocal support for the team since the move from Highbury to the Emirates in 2006.

One of the biggest factors has been the return of the old "We're the North Bank", "We're the Clock End", "We're the East Stand" and "We're the West Stand, Highbury" chants which were revived during the Champions League clash with Napoli and have been sung ever since.